Page 82 of Shifting Gears

There’s a lump in Nora’s throat the size of a baseball when Dani finishes. Even though Nora’s chin is still being gentlyheld, she can’t help but avert her suddenly watery eyes. Dani’s intensity is too much to look at head-on, especially when it’s being directed in a way that Nora doesn’t—

“I don’t deserve your faith in me,” Nora manages to say. “Even if you did know who I was, I didn’t know that you knew. I’ve still been keeping it from you. Not telling you why I really came to Riverwalk.”

“I don’t think you ever told a lie,” Dani says with a wan smile. “I was paying attention. And you did tell me, that night in bed. You did the right thing.”

That catches Nora’s attention. Her eyes snap to Dani again.

“You were awake?”

Dani winces. “Yeah. Sorry. I know you tried a couple other times, too.” She shifts a little, settling on her knees in the dirt and looking out at the sun sinking on the horizon. “And here’s my confession. I almost wrote an article about you, before I quit reporting.”

It’s too much information at once. Nora blinks silently, lost for words, as Dani keeps talking.

“It was about CromTech’s changes when you took over. The good ones, compared to your father’s policies. My boss turned it down because I couldn’t be objective,” Dani says. Her eyes are downcast. “I quit a couple months later and came back here. But I remembered as soon as I saw your name.”

Nora might be upset if her own secret wasn’t about a thousand times bigger. She stares at Dani, trying in vain to comprehend why Dani’s reaction to all this has been so mild. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Dani gnaws on her lower lip, letting it slide harshly through her teeth before she speaks. “I guess I had the same problem you did. Admitting that I knew, letting you tell me the truth, it felt like…like that would be the end. I wanted to keep this a little longer, I guess. I wanted more time with you. To know you fully.”

It’s a bit calming to know that Dani’s reasons echo Nora’s own. They both made the wrong decisions in futile attempts to preserve the magic of the summer, and now they’re both here in the aftermath.

“But I told you I came here to develop Riverwalk,” Nora says. “I was going to do everything you said you didn’t want. You have every reason to never want to speak to me again.”

Dani doesn’t say anything for a moment. The truth hangs between them, caught on the thick tension in the air. In the end, Dani’s response is only three words. “You saidwas.”

Nora frowns. “Was?”

“You talked in the past tense. Your proposalwasto buy property. Youwerelooking to profit. You said you’d changed your mind.”

Nora laughs wetly, wiping at her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve. “Of course I changed my mind. I’m going to be eviscerated by the board for coming back empty-handed, but there’s no way I can go forward with it.”

“Then why would you not deserve my faith in you?” Dani says. Her voice is warm, and when Nora finally raises her eyes to Dani’s, they’re unimaginably kind, given the circumstances. “You were scared, but you did the right thing. If that isn’t me being proven right, I don’t know what is.”

“So you just…you don’t care that I was going to do all of that to begin with?” Nora asks. “I told you I came here for a selfish reason that would have jeopardized the town you love, and that didn’tbotheryou?”

“I know. I probably should have flipped out as soon as I figured out what you were here for. But every time I was with you, I stopped caring about the town,” Dani says softly, drumming the fingers of her other hand against her thigh. “I was selfish, too. Putting what I wanted ahead of everyone else. Evenif you hadn’t changed your mind, I don’t know if I ever would have said anything. Not if it meant you’d leave sooner.”

It’s dangerously close to the kind of admission Nora has been avoiding. Intellectually she’s suspected that Dani feels as strongly as she does, but to be faced with the reality of it on the day when it all comes crumbling down is like a slap in the face.

In the end, their feelings don’t matter. Not when their lives have to diverge.

“At this point, I don’t care what you came for. I care what you’ve done since,” Dani says with an air of finality.

Defending Nora against herself seems to come naturally to Dani in a way Nora doesn’t understand. But her steady presence is calming, and as Nora’s heart rate slows, she closes her eyes and tries to focus on the things she can feel. The cool breeze on her skin, clean and fresh. The soil under her knees, still warm from the day’s sun. The birdsong and crickets and gentle buzzing of insects among the plants. Dani’s hand intertwined with hers, with her rough callouses against Nora’s soft skin. Breathing in, breathing out.

Nora opens her eyes to drink in her last Riverwalk sunset.

“You okay?” Dani asks softly.

Some of the tension has left Nora’s body, but her stomach still lurches when she thinks about going back to the bar to face everyone.

“I assume the others aren’t quite as understanding as you are,” Nora says. The memory of each face as the truth was revealed leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. “Ryan is probably ready to kill me.”

Dani’s mouth forms a thin line that tells Nora all she needs to know. “They’re all a little shell-shocked. But they’ll come around.”

“They’d be well within their rights not to. As would you,” Nora says.

Dani stands, brushing the dirt from her knees and offering a hand to Nora. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

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